Welcome to the best KC Chiefs site on the internet. You can view any post as a visitor, but you are required to register before you can post. Click the register link above, it only takes 30 seconds to start chatting with Chiefs fans from all over the world! Enjoy your stay!

Titans/Jets and the Chiefs

I have the ticket. I usually record the game of the Chiefs' next week's opponent. This week's game was obviously the Titans/Jets game. I couldn't wait to watch this game tonight (for obvious reasons).

Let me start off by saying that I acknowledge that I was wrong about Geno Smith. Geno is not a younger version of Alex Smith as I had argued earlier this spring based off career numbers... Geno is much worse than that. The Titans do NOT have much of a pass rush but Geno just could not make any good decisions and their O-line made the Titans look MUCH better than they actually are. 4 turnovers (almost 4 more) and sacked 5x (one sack SHOULD'VE been a safety after retreating 15 yards and another was turned into a strip 6). Again, the Titans are NOT a good pass rushing team.

No, Geno is not a younger version of Alex... he's some kind of hybrid of Vince Young, Matt Cassel, and Mark Sanchez. Geno finished the day with a 7.8 QBR and owns a 65 QBR (before today) on the season. The only 2 QBs worse than him this year no longer have a job (Freeman/Weeden). He holds the 2nd worst comp % (before today), wedged right between Freeman and Weeden. BUT his yards per attempt rank 9th in the league at 7.85 which, I guess means he's better than Tom Brady who sits worst in the league at 5.5... well, never mind because he also leads the league in INTs (8)... and that's also not including multiple fumbles.

It really is too bad that Tim Tebow isn't still around... at least Geno would have some competetion for worst player in the league.

"... and that's all I have to say about that" - Forrest Gump

Now, about the Titans. There is NOTHING about the Tennessee Titans that strikes fear in their opponent's heart. Locker wasn't all that great to begin with, but now they've lost their starting QB. Shut down Chris Johnson and force Ryan Fitzpatrick to beat you. The Titans, much like the Chiefs have feasted on their turnover ratio. They have yet to turn the ball over this season. Pretty impressive 4 games in. Stats aren't updated yet, but I think the Chiefs are sitting at +10 in TO dif. while the Titans are at +9. They've beaten 0-4 Pittsburgh (-11), lost in overtime to Houston (-4), Beat SD (-3), and beat the Jets (-10). The Chiefs have beaten Jax (-4), Dallas (+3), Philly (-2), and NYG (-9). Both teams are practically winning the same way.

However, there are a few differences to these two teams. Tennessee has the 29th ranked offense that will have to square off against a Chiefs defense that is a top 5 unit that is only giving up 10pts/gm and leading the league in sacks... and they'll have to do it with their backup QB.

That's not to say the Titans' defense is horrible. But it's not like they were playing elite offenses like those in the NFC East, either. Todd Haley in Pittsburgh... we know exactly what kind of offense THAT is (28th in yards, 30th in pts). They lost to the only "good" offense they played (Houston 10th yards/16th pts). San Diego is mid pack and NYJ is bottom 3rd. Counter that with Chiefs opponents like Philly who is 2nd in yards and 5th in points or Dallas who is top 10 in both categories as well, and you see a Chiefs defense that has been tested. The Giants are bottom quarter and the Jags are dead last, so take that as you will.

The Chiefs offense is right at league average after the Giants game. They're not going to blow out the the Titan's defense. You can expect a similar performance to what we saw against Dallas. The key to this game is going to be turnovers. I know that's a pretty big key to every game, but for the Chiefs and Titans, it's even more important because that is how both teams have been winning. Can the Titans' offense with back QB Fitzpatrick score enough on a top ranked Chiefs defense if the Chiefs aren't turning the ball over? We've seen the Chiefs score against a good Dallas defense a couple times. The Giants don't have a horrible defensive unit either. The Jets have a really good defense but Geno Smith kept putting them in bad situations and made the game look much worse than it actually was for the Jets defense. Reminded me a lot of what we saw from the Chiefs last season. QB just couldn't stop turning the ball over and just killed the defense. Houston has a great defense as well and the Titans took them to overtime. The Titans have the 29th ranked offense, but they can move and score when they get an opportunity. A big question for them is who's going to be their QB?

Next Sunday, you're going to see a league average Chiefs offense against a top 10 Tennessee defense. You're also going to see a league bottom third Tennessee offense with a new QB against a top 3 Chiefs defense. Again, nothing on that Titans team strikes fear in your heart. Stop Chris Johnson on offense and know where the best safety in the league is on their defense and you can pretty much dictate what you want to do. Going into next Sunday, I EXPECT the Chiefs to win. I was more worried about the last 3 games than I am about the Titans. I don't see Alex Smith and this offense giving the Titans turnovers to prey on. But I also don't see the Titans giving the Chiefs any gifts either. So when you match up offenses v. defenses, I think the Chiefs have a very large advantage.

Take a look at that schedule, Chiefs fans. Things don't get any easier the rest of the season. Oakland is playing well, Houston is always good. Cleveland is suddenly worth noticing. Playing in Buffalo always sucks for the Chiefs. Then Denver, SD, Denver isn't something to look forward to. As good as things may look right now, don't expect the Chiefs to just roll through their schedule and not have any issues. The offense is looking better each week and if the defense can stay healthy, things could get very exciting, but the Chiefs play good teams the rest of the season. Make no mistake.

Personally, I'm disappointed about what happened to Jake Locker and that he's not going to play in this game, as he was off to a pretty fair start & he's more mobile than Fitzpatrick. Not selling Fitzpatrick short, but if the Chiefs do win, then quite naturally we are going to hear things about the Titans not being at full strength -- which is true because without Locker, they aren't at full strength.

This is the NFL, not college. All that matters in the pro's is the W. It doesn't matter HOW you win. I'm glad we're playing their backup QB. I'd do it all season long if we could.

Given what happened to Jake Locker, the Chiefs better be looking to keeping Alex Smith upright as their #1 priority.

I don't understand this last sentence. Why would this week be any more important than any other week? It wasn't the Tennessee defense that hurt Jake Locker.

At this point, the Chiefs have set a bar. Every game now is a big game. The Chiefs will basically have to go 6 and 6 the rest of the way to make the play offs. I believe the Raiders will be two of those 6. Hopefully the home game against the Chargers will be another. I won't count the away game in San Diego but we could steal one there. Currently I can't say the Chiefs beat the Donkies at home or away. We need to gel a little more and the Donkies need to come down from their current level of play for me to have those types of optomistic expectations.

So we need to win three more games between the Titans, Browns, Redskins, Bills, Colts and Texans. I believe the Redskins are a win, based on their current performances, leaving two more wins against what currently appear to be playoff contenders.

Yup. We are currently in 1st place in the Wildcard hunt with a 1 game lead over every other team that is in the running for a Wildcard. 10-6 should get us in the playoffs.

The "doubters" will say we have only beaten bad teams as no team we have beaten is currently better than 2-2. So we still need to prove we can beat winning teams. The Titans will be our first test in that regard. The teams we play the rest of this year currently have a combined record of 27-21. Remove Denver from that mix and 10 of our remaining 12 games are against teams with a combined record of 19-21. 6 of our remaining 12 games are against teams that have given up more points than they have scored...those teams are Raiders (2 games), Houston (1 game), Cleveland (1 game), Buffalo (1 game) and Washington (1 game). The teams we have played so far are a combined 3-13. So it looks as if the toughest part of our schedule is ahead of us.

Trying to look at it objectively, I see the game against the Titans as by far our toughest game so far this year. If we can put together a win against them on their home turf then the road to at least a Wildcard slot is wide open and we win at least 10 games this year....probably 11. If we lose to the Titans then I see only 4 more SURE wins [Raiders x 2; San Diego (1) and Washington(1)] with a remaining 8 where we'd have at least a fighting chance.

Ultimately I think it comes down to how good our defense really is once we start playing the better teams we have ahead. We currently have the 2cond best point differential in the AFC at + 61 and the third best point differential. We have allowed only 10.25 points per game and have scored 25.5 points per game. 25 points will win us most of our remaining games if our defense continues to play the way it has.

All in all, I am worried sick about the Titans. I think this game is going to tell us a great deal about how good our 4-0 Chiefs really are.

This is the NFL, not college. All that matters in the pro's is the W. It doesn't matter HOW you win. I'm glad we're playing their backup QB. I'd do it all season long if we could.

I'm going to put this to you bluntly -- this perspective is being nothing but a gutless pu$$y -- cut and dried. And it doesn't matter what level of competition, whether it's college or NFL or Pop Warner. And right along the same line as having your team win because of a botched call by the officials that went against the other team & then acting like your team won outright when they didn't ( like I've seen so many times from Bronco fans ).

I do not want Peyton Manning KO'd just so the Chiefs have a better chance of beating the Donkey's. I want Manning on the field so the Chiefs have the chance of meeting the challenge head-on & getting a true measuring stick of where the Chiefs really stand -- same as they would if Locker were on the field this coming Sunday.

Originally Posted by texaschief

I don't understand this last sentence. Why would this week be any more important than any other week? It wasn't the Tennessee defense that hurt Jake Locker.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we do not want to lose Alex Smith for any extended period of time, because it's going to hurt their chances of winning on Sundays. Common sense ought to have told you that.

I'm going to put this to you bluntly -- this perspective is being nothing but a gutless pu$$y -- cut and dried. And it doesn't matter what level of competition, whether it's college or NFL or Pop Warner. And right along the same line as having your team win because of a botched call by the officials that went against the other team & then acting like your team won outright when they didn't ( like I've seen so many times from Bronco fans ).

I agree with you in principle....I think we would all prefer that every win came against a team that was at 100% and in which there were no meaningful penalties called. That said, injuries and penalties are part of the game. So are big momentum-changing plays. A big part of a coach and GM's job is having the depth the be able to overcome injuries and be able to overcome those big momentum-changing plays. Cruz' touchdown less than a minute after we scored our first touchdown could have been a momentum-changing play. That fluke interception where the ball bounced off several players and the Giants wound up with the interception could have been a killer for us. They weren't. The Chiefs just kept doing their jobs and won the game despite adversity. They didn't shake the confidence of our offense or defense one bit. And it didn't give the Giants a big boost. That's Andy Reid. He has built a team that can overcome those confidence busting plays. And Reid and Dorsey seem to have put together enough depth that we have been able to overcome some important injuries and keep on winning.

Injuries, bad calls and momentum-changing plays are all part of football in the NFL. How a team handles those things is one of the things that separates good teams from "parity" teams. One of the things that is going to make our Chiefs a real force in the NFL again (maybe not this year but real soon) is that we have a better GM and a better Coach than most teams. They are building a team that can overcome injuries, overcome bad calls and overcome those often heart-breaking big plays by the other team.

So yeah....I'd rather beat every team when it was at 100% and there were no killer penalties by either side, but in the end a win is a win and if we win when our opponent has injuries or killer penalties or we make a heart-breaking big play then the truth is we have a BETTER TEAM......because our GM and Coach did a better job of preparing our team to overcome adversity.

Overcoming adversity is one of the things that separates the men from the boys in the NFL.

Originally Posted by brdempsey69

I do not want Peyton Manning KO'd just so the Chiefs have a better chance of beating the Donkey's. I want Manning on the field so the Chiefs have the chance of meeting the challenge head-on & getting a true measuring stick of where the Chiefs really stand -- same as they would if Locker were on the field this coming Sunday.

I understand, but remember this....Injuries are part of the game...and potentially more so when a team picks up an older QB with a long history of injuries. If Peyton Manning goes down and we beat them as a result, it doesn't make us any less a good team. It simply means that Denver took a risk in an effort to "Win Now" and that it blew up in their faces. In short, it will mean they gambled and lost. Just like going to Las Vegas. Reid and Dorsey are not trying to build a team based on gamblers odds. Reid and Dorsey are not trying to build a team that gets lucky in Vegas. They are trying to build a team where the odds are stacked in their favor.

Originally Posted by brdempsey69

I'm saying we do not want to lose Alex Smith for any extended period of time, because it's going to hurt their chances of winning on Sundays.

Naturally. We certainly don't want to lose Alex Smith right now. But in my opinion Dorsey and Reid have been working on the "after Alex Smith" time since about 60 seconds after they completed the trade for him. And as you have said many times, they may have pulled off the miracle of getting our QOTF as an Undrafted Free Agent. If that turns out to be true, then getting Alex Smith for 2 second round picks will go down in history as one of the best moves ever made in the NFL.

So no....I don't care if we are playing the Titans with their backup QB. It's THEIR job to overcome that. It's our job to beat the hell out of them no matter who they put on the field. Because injuries are part of the NFL. We are gonna win or we are gonna lose and beating their backup QB will not make 5-0 even one tiny bit less sweet.

I understand injuries occur, but you do NOT go wishing them upon your opponent just because it gives your team a better chance to win. There is an old saying -- "what comes around, goes around". Chiefs fans didn't think it was too funny when Jamaal Charles got KO'd two seasons ago.

I understand injuries occur, but you do NOT go wishing them upon your opponent just because it gives your team a better chance to win. There is an old saying -- "what comes around, goes around". Chiefs fans didn't think it was too funny when Jamaal Charles got KO'd two seasons ago.

I don't see anyone in the TN media saying that they are up a creek because Locker got hurt. Fact many of think there will be no drop off. Again, the Titans are winning just like the Chiefs. Good defense and taking what they can on offense and win the field position battles.

Should the Cheifs win, and people discredit the win because we didn't get their starter. They aren't sounding wounded right now.

I understand injuries occur, but you do NOT go wishing them upon your opponent just because it gives your team a better chance to win. There is an old saying -- "what comes around, goes around". Chiefs fans didn't think it was too funny when Jamaal Charles got KO'd two seasons ago.

Certainly not. And I wasn't suggesting that we should hope for a Manning injury.....though truth be told, when we are playing them I may scream for somebody to "BREAK HIS DAMNED NECK".

I don't see anyone in the TN media saying that they are up a creek because Locker got hurt. Fact many of think there will be no drop off. Again, the Titans are winning just like the Chiefs. Good defense and taking what they can on offense and win the field position battles.

Should the Cheifs win, and people discredit the win because we didn't get their starter. They aren't sounding wounded right now.

Personally, I'd almost prefer to be facing Locker. We have virtually no film of his replacement in this Titans offense and I seem to remember "Tebow Time" in Denver and Orton beating Green Bay. Far too often a new QB gives opposing defenses a very hard time.

Certainly not. And I wasn't suggesting that we should hope for a Manning injury.....though truth be told, when we are playing them I may scream for somebody to "BREAK HIS DAMNED NECK".

Personally, I will be yelling for them to sack him or pick his passes off, but not maim him.

Originally Posted by Seek

I don't see anyone in the TN media saying that they are up a creek because Locker got hurt. Fact many of think there will be no drop off. Again, the Titans are winning just like the Chiefs. Good defense and taking what they can on offense and win the field position battles.

Should the Cheifs win, and people discredit the win because we didn't get their starter. They aren't sounding wounded right now.

There is a dropoff. Locker is the superior talent over Fitzpatrick. They may not be saying the Titans are up a creek, but that doesn't mean they aren't apprehensive about Lockers absence in the coming weeks. I know that their HC Mike Munchak is.